Many of you have been following a thread based on my need for a new board. I spent some time on Thursday with jmabray using the congo jr. So I thought I would let you in on my reaction to the board. For those who do not know...I have to get a replacement board within the remainder of the budget year...that means I can't wait for new boards like the ION or Aeo jr. I work in a small Jr. College setting and I am needing something that I will be able to train students on and that will be able to integrate new technology into the facilities for the next few years.
First, I think we can all agree that the Congo Jr. is a right sexy board even with a seperate wing.
2) Though the language was awkard at first...I think I could get used to it quickly. (pressing 14 channel 30 @)
3) The button configuration seemed to be a little awkward. However, I kind of think that in the end we will find it to be well thought out. I didn't like where the Back cue button was located in reference to the Go cue button. I think a student would have a hard time finding it in the dark.
4) It seemed like a lot of jargon was changed on the Congo Jr. for no reason at all. Why change board jargon that we are all comforatable with.
5) I think the wing is a neccessity for any Small College setting like mine.
6) There is a learning curve, but I think any board that you need to train students on needs to have that learning curve. The only way for students to excell is for them to be challanged. There are alot of boards out there right now that have a somewhat steep learning curve, I think you should train students on a board with a somewhat steep curve so they can become flexable in later meeting up with different boards.
7) One thing that came up in the demo is that some functions of the board can become confusing because of one misstep. For instance, the wing has several buttons/switches that need to be put on the appropriate setting for the sliders to function in the manner we want them to. So while we tried to program a slider to run a basic look as a submaster, we had difficulty until realizing that we had a button on that should not be. Yes, I realize that I need to be more comforatable with the board...but I think that this error could have been made by anyone. So we had to go down this checklist of what was going wronge. Its like not being able to turn on your computer because you forgot to have it plugged in, or its in sleep mode, etc.
8) gotta admit, you get alot of bang for your buck with the Congo Jr. All the friggen options made me want it. I like the learning curve for teaching, I like the price, I like that it has enough power and flexibility for any small theatre to run all conventionals and a reasonable amount of dmx devices.
9) I don't like that may be quickly eclipsed by newer boards like the Ion or Aeo jr. I don't like that jargon issue that may give students difficulty when dealing with other boards. I don't like that we have to go down a checklist in order to get some functions to happen.
First, I think we can all agree that the Congo Jr. is a right sexy board even with a seperate wing.
2) Though the language was awkard at first...I think I could get used to it quickly. (pressing 14 channel 30 @)
3) The button configuration seemed to be a little awkward. However, I kind of think that in the end we will find it to be well thought out. I didn't like where the Back cue button was located in reference to the Go cue button. I think a student would have a hard time finding it in the dark.
4) It seemed like a lot of jargon was changed on the Congo Jr. for no reason at all. Why change board jargon that we are all comforatable with.
5) I think the wing is a neccessity for any Small College setting like mine.
6) There is a learning curve, but I think any board that you need to train students on needs to have that learning curve. The only way for students to excell is for them to be challanged. There are alot of boards out there right now that have a somewhat steep learning curve, I think you should train students on a board with a somewhat steep curve so they can become flexable in later meeting up with different boards.
7) One thing that came up in the demo is that some functions of the board can become confusing because of one misstep. For instance, the wing has several buttons/switches that need to be put on the appropriate setting for the sliders to function in the manner we want them to. So while we tried to program a slider to run a basic look as a submaster, we had difficulty until realizing that we had a button on that should not be. Yes, I realize that I need to be more comforatable with the board...but I think that this error could have been made by anyone. So we had to go down this checklist of what was going wronge. Its like not being able to turn on your computer because you forgot to have it plugged in, or its in sleep mode, etc.
8) gotta admit, you get alot of bang for your buck with the Congo Jr. All the friggen options made me want it. I like the learning curve for teaching, I like the price, I like that it has enough power and flexibility for any small theatre to run all conventionals and a reasonable amount of dmx devices.
9) I don't like that may be quickly eclipsed by newer boards like the Ion or Aeo jr. I don't like that jargon issue that may give students difficulty when dealing with other boards. I don't like that we have to go down a checklist in order to get some functions to happen.